Monday, 8 April 2013

Through fresh eyes.

I've noticed that when I go somewhere new, I see and photograph things that the residents often overlook.

You may remember my blog post "Back in time" when I photographed Herr Alois Zäch who was on the development team that created the World's first watch with built in illumination.At the end of that piece, I said "On the way home I spotted a lovely little shrine beside the road and made a mental note to return and photograph it."One week later I found the time to return.

From the outside, i.e. when you pass the shrine in a car, it's pretty unremarkable. Just a small bleached white building with a red tiled roof under a tree.

It's quite easy to miss (screenshots from Google Earth)

Parking proved to be the first problem. There was no space beside the shrine itself so I parked in a lay-by about 500 - 600 meters away from the shrine. (Number 1 on the screenshot)

I was a baking hot day so I was travelling light. Taking with me only the Eos 5d MK II together with a 70 - 200 and the trusty 17 - 40.The first thing I wanted to
do was to photograph the shrine with no road beside it, to try and lend
an air of tranquillity to the image. I found a spot on a hill overlooking the shrine (number 2 on he screenshot) and used the 70 - 200 at the low end to get the composition I was looking for.

1st image from position 2

Not too pleased with this view because of the tree obscuring the shrine.Unfortunately that was the only place where the road was hidden so I decided to do my photography around the shrine itself.

Both images here were taken at 17mm focal length. I simply moved further away from the shrine for the second image.

Same viewpoint but with the camera in a horizontal position

This is the front of the shrine. I didn't have a flash with me so I used HDR to bring out the shadow details

This, however, is my favourite image from that day. There is no trace of the road (although cars were whizzing past me all the time) and I think it has a tranquil air about it. I converted the original image from RAW to a JPG and further processed it in Snapseed.

About Me

I was born in Sunderland, England. I spent my formative years growing up in places as far apart as Singapore, Istanbul, Malaysia, Germany, England, Rhodesia and now Switzerland.

I've been a passionate photographer since 1979. Since then, I have worked all over the World doing what I love. I don't think that there's one field of photography that I haven't been involved in. Everything from forensics and paparazzi, to weddings and catalogue work.

From 2002 until 2012, I was the in-house photographer for Regent Lighting. The premier lighting company in Switzerland.

I'm still as passionate about the art or craft (call it what you will) of photography today as I was all those years ago.